Santa Cruz plans to move benchlands homeless camp to Harvey West

Santa Cruz will move the homeless camp presently at the San Lorenzo Park benchlands to this gravel lot at 1220 River St. in January. (Dan Coyro -- Santa Cruz Sentinel)

SANTA CRUZ >> The city of Santa Cruz has announced that it plans to move the contentious San Lorenzo Park benchlands homeless camp to another location near Harvey West Park, starting in January.

City Manager Martín Bernal announced his strategy Thursday afternoon in an email addressed to the community, citing a goal of making the campground a “short-term, temporary situation” that will be “as positive an experience as it can be for our community at large.”

The existing benchlands camp, organized in early November to host 58 camp sites, each 15-by-15 feet on about an acre of land adjacent to the County Governmental Building, may be cleared out as early as mid-January, Bernal said. In its place, a quarter-of-an-acre vacant city-owned gravel lot, at 1220 River St., will host a 3- to 4-month campground.

“(It) is imperative that there be a transitional plan in order to direct those individuals to an alternate place,” Bernal said of the decision to delay the benchlands’ camp closure by one month. “Pushing individuals out with no place to go will not serve them or the community.”

The benchlands encampment began drawing significant community ire in late October, shortly after a hepatitis A outbreak was identified among the area’s homeless. The city installed amenities such as portable bathrooms, hand-washing stations, bike racks and large trash bins and has enforced multiple day-long site cleanups that have uncovered scores of discarded hypodermic needles. One Pennsylvania man, 32-year-old Jesse Lycett, was found dead on Nov. 20 inside his tent, surrounded by drug paraphernalia. The Coastal Watershed Council has led a charge against the encampment, citing environmental impacts to the nearby San Lorenzo River.

The question of what to do with the city’s homeless has been a decades-long debate, often characterized by political decisions to push homeless people from one site, only to have them pop up in new locations. Other efforts, such as those focused on the “housing first” model or prioritizing homeless veterans, have won limited victories amid a larger argument between leaders on responsibility and appropriate courses of action.

POSSIBLE PROBLEMS

The new outdoor camp site is expected to include rules, security, social services, storage and transportation, city officials said. Bernal said the city’s long-term plan is for the camp to serve as a stepping stone while a temporary indoor shelter site is found, and finally a new permanent shelter is created.

But the proposed River Street camp site may have issues related to flooding.

Last year, the gravel lot served as an intake site for a winter shelter program, which was relocated this year because the lot was “wholly unsuitable,” said Assistant City Manager Tina Shull at the Nov. 14 Santa Cruz City Council meeting.

“They had a lot of issues with client access there, being that there were not sidewalks leading to the site, it was a gravel lot and it also flooded when the river came up and everything was done in temporary buildings,” Shull said.

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The site is adjacent to a recently-built townhouse development at Vernon Street, across from the Santa Cruz Metropolitan District administrative offices and its maintenance yard. Those staying at the River Street camp will be shuttled in from several pickup points around the city to lessen the impact on the neighborhood of a walk-on site, city Principal Management Analyst Susie O’Hara said Thursday. City workers also are looking to ensure the site is not endangered by winter rain flooding or standing water, she said. O’Hara added that the city hopes to have the same or similar capacity for homeless campers at River Street.

City Councilman Chris Krohn said Thursday that he was “a little frustrated” at the turn of events, adding that a new tent area is “not ideal,” but is part of the larger puzzle while the city looks for a permanent new shelter opportunity.

“When the benchlands happened, it was trying to get the city to wake up to the real need and I think we’re woke, but maybe not all the way,” Krohn said. “I think it’s remote. But it is closer to the Homeless Services Center. I don’t know if it’s where homeless people want to be, but I think we’re looking at our best alternatives that we have available. It’s going to be difficult in the rain, everybody knows that. Finding a temporary space indoors is also in the mix, as well, as finding a permanent place.”

CHANGE OF PLANS

Until recently, the city’s plan was to use the gravel lot for a managed storage program that was supposed to begin Dec. 1. The free storage program was one of 20 recommendations made by the Santa Cruz City Council Homeless Coordinating Committee and endorsed by the entire council as an idea that could be launched in the short term. Though shipping containers planned to host the storage program will remain at the River Street camp, space allowing, only those inhabiting the site are expected to have access to them, O’Hara said.

Brent Adams of the volunteer-based Warming Center Program was on tap to manage the program he dubbed the Day & Night Storage Program. Adams, reached after the city’s announcement, said that he had taken several steps in preparation for launching the homeless storage program and already had helped the city organize short storage operations during two city-sponsored benchland camp cleanups.

“In the meeting in which we were expecting to sign a contract, we were told that the city was changing direction. For a small mostly volunteer nonprofit receiving no city funding, this has been a surprising blow,” Adams said. “These startup costs will be absorbed by our nonprofit.

Adams said he hopes the storage program concept can be revived, potentially as a mobile effort that meets homeless people where they are congregating.

About the Author

Jessica A. York covers Santa Cruz city hall, Santa Cruz City Schools, Soquel Creek Water District and homeless issues for the Sentinel. She has been a working journalist, on both coasts, since 2004. Reach the author at jyork@santacruzsentinel.com
or follow Jessica A. on Twitter: @reporterjess.